Bye, bye American pie

Hialeah Park among endangered sites on National Trust list.

Some are silly. Some are sacred. Some are being loved to death. Others forgotten.

But all of the travel spots on the 11 Most Endangered Places list have a common story: They are in danger of being destroyed or altered beyond recognition.

The annual list by the nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation draws attention to slices of Americana that are being disturbed or damaged.

"The places on this year's list span the continent and encompass the breadth of the American experience," said group president Richard Moe, announcing the list this summer. "Each one is enormously important to our understanding of who we are as a nation and a people."

The 2007 list includes historic motels on Route 66 that are losing out to chain hotels and travelers who rarely slow down along the newer interstates.

They are listed alongside the industrial waterfront of Brooklyn that is increasingly being bulldozed to make way for multimillion-dollar condos, and a World War II-era internment camp that once held Japanese-Americans that is slipping into decrepitude. Sites on the 2007 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places are:

Historic Route 66 motels, Illinois to California: Bypassed by interstates and faced with competition from chain hotels, the quirkier mom-and-pop motels, often featuring neon-drenched signs, are fading from "the Mother Road."

Stewart's Point Rancheria, Sonoma County, Calif.: A lack of funds has hampered efforts to preserve lands of the Kashia Pomo Indian tribe. Though officially protected by a federal tribal lands preservation program, the site has been looted of sacred and historic artifacts.

Minidoka Internment National Monument, Jerome County, Idaho: Thousands of Japanese-Americans and Japanese immigrants were sent to this "relocation center" camp from 1942 to 1945. A lack of National Park Service funds and plans for a massive local feed operation nearby threaten the site, which has experienced vandalism and looting of artifacts.

Pinon Canyon, Colo.: The Army wants to add up to 400,000 acres to a nearby training ground. The trust says the move would take over private ranches and historic Santa Fe Trail areas in a part of southeastern Colorado noted for its "scenic buttes, river valleys, family ranches and historic and archeological sites that span 11,500 years."

El Camino Real National Historic Trail, New Mexico: The El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro was one of the earliest trade routes for European settlers of North America. The trust says the area is known for its "austere physical beauty, rural solitude and remote isolation," which would be disrupted by a planned $225 million commercial spaceport.

Brooklyn's industrial waterfront, New York: The historic dockyards and factories are being replaced by acres of condominiums in suddenly hip areas with new acronyms like DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). The trust wants to preserve at least a portion of the borough's 19th-century industrial heart.

H.H. Richardson House, Brookline, Mass.: The last home and studio of the architect whose "Richardsonian Romanesque" style led to masterpieces like Boston's Trinity Church could be demolished.

Hialeah Park, Hialeah: Changing tastes in real estate and gambling threaten the 1925 racetrack familiar for its European styling and pink flamingos. The trust says plans for a 3,760-unit condo and apartment complex with nearly 1 million square feet of retail and 200,000 square feet of office space would all but destroy the setting of the track where Seabiscuit once ran.

Historic places in power line corridors in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware: Seven states are fighting plans for massive new power lines, with towers up to 150 feet tall, which would cut across private lands, neighborhoods, historic areas and open spaces.

Historic structures in Mark Twain National Forest, Mo.: Once a showcase of New Deal-era public lands, the 1.5 million acre forest's structures, from 19th-century farmsteads to 20th-century ranger stations, face deterioration and vandalism. The culprit: lack of federal funds.

Philip Simmons workshop and home, Charleston, S.C.: Simmons spent 80 years decorating his hometown with fences, gates, railings and grills. But the master blacksmith, now 95, may lose his workshop due to development pressures.

This year marks the 20th edition of the endangered list. Of the 189 sites named, just six have been destroyed.